[Blarg]

I agree on atmosphere, and give some huge points to The Shining on it. The Overlook was made to look really creepy and closed in even while being huge. The long, empty corridors, the many low to the ground Steadicam shots as the kid is racing his Big Wheel through the them, tbe red dementia of the bar, were just great.

The scene where the kid is playing alone and the ball comes rolling up to him, and he looks up -- and of course there was no one there to throw it, and the scene where Wendy discovers his pages typed with endless rearrangements of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" were fantastic and very scary, and two of my favorite scenes in any horror movie.

The Shining, like most horror flicks, has many great moments even though it doesn't hold together well as a film or have a solid throughline of story and tension. Horror fans are willing to accept a lot of flaws to get to those good moments or feel the vibe of really good atmosphere. The best moments of horror movies can be so good that we're very forgiving about the padding and bungling between them.